2020

Rheinmetall AG group holding

January: Rheinmetall places five-, seven- and ten-year 1% bonds exclusively on the VC Trade digital platform for the first time. The company thus achieves a volume of 75 million euros.

April: Jörg Grotendorst is appointed member of the Rheinmetall AG Executive Board. He takes up his new position as CEO of Rheinmetall Automotive AG on 1 October.

Rheinmetall uses its international sales contacts and concludes a contract with the German Federal Procurement Office (Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support) to procure six million respiratory masks from China for federal authorities.

19 May: Rheinmetall AG Annual General Meeting. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the AGM is not held with shareholders in Berlin as originally planned, but as an online event only.

12 October: Companies in North Rhine-Westphalia, including Rheinmetall, present thirteen projects to achieve climate targets through the use of hydrogen.

November: Rheinmetall is named as one of the best companies offering training in Germany in a survey conducted by the magazine Capital.

31 December: Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Rheinmetall achieves the third-best result in its history.

Other events:
Rheinmetall Technology Center GmbH is founded. The company focuses on broad topics such as automation, sensor technology, digitisation, alternative transport and artificial intelligence.

Rheinmetall creates Rheinmetall Cyber Solutions GmbH as a new business unit. It serves to expand Rheinmetall’s existing activities in IT security sector and handle the field as a strategic business area.

Rheinmetall Defence

January: The Federal Armed Forces awards Rheinmetall Electronics the contract to equip the Puma infantry fighting vehicle with the AGDUS duel simulator for training purposes. The aim is to simulate the effect of the Puma’s weapon system with laser detectors.

February: a cargo space simulator for the Airbus A400M is put into operation at the French Armed Forces’ Cargo Training Centre.

March: Rheinmetall NIOA munitions sets up a plant in Australia to manufacture medium calibre ammunition for the US Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

May: the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment awards an initial industrial study for the land combat system of the future to the ARGE MGCS programme, to which Rheinmetall AG, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co. KG and Nexter Systems belong. The aim is for this system to replace the Leopard 2 battle tank from 2035. The first phase is expected to take 18 months.

Rheinmetall delivers seven Fuchs 1A8 armoured transport carriers for explosive ordnance disposal (KAI in German) to the German Federal Armed Forces. The Fuchs KAI is designed to clear danger areas not covered by the route clearance system.

28 May: Poland receives its first enhanced combat Leopard 2PL battle tank.

Late May: the first of a total of 88 Boxer vehicles are shipped to Lithuania.

18 June: RMMV is awarded a blanket purchase agreement with the German Federal Armed Forces to deliver up to 4,000 military trucks worth up to two billion euros between 2021 and 2027.

9 September: Rheinmetall is awarded the contract worth more than two billion euros to produce the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle in a joint venture with the Hungarian government in Hungary. Delivery commences in 2022. Hungary is the first country to order the Lynx. The first 46 Lynx tanks are being built in Kassel and Unterlüss until the beginning of 2023 while the other 172 vehicles will be built in Hungary itself.

11 October: Rheinmetall Defence Australia opens the Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MIVECOE) in Redbank, Queensland, a development, manufacturing and maintenance facility for military vehicles, platforms and towers for the Australian Armed Forces. It will produce most Boxer armoured transport vehicles for Australia as part of the Land 400 Phase 2 project.

October/November: Rheinmetall is awarded the contract to equip the Marder 1A 5 infantry fighting vehicle with the Spectus II driver night observation device and the Saphir 2.6 MK thermal imaging aiming device.

November: the German Federal Armed Forces award Rheinmetall the contract to manufac-ture a laser source demonstrator, which is to be tested for one year on the naval frigate Sachsen.

November: RNMV begins series delivery of 343 roll-off tipper vehicles for the German Federal Armed Forces. This is the largest contract for civilian trucks that Rheinmetall has received.

19 November: Rheinmetall Canada introduces a new module for the unmanned Mission Master platform, the Mission Master – Armed Reconnaissance. It is equipped with reconnaissance technology and a remote-controlled Rheinmetall Fieldranger weapon station.

December: Rheinmetall and the US manufacturer Galvion are awarded the contract to supply 20,000 new combat helmets for the German Federal Armed Forces Special Forces.

As one of the last procurement activities of the year, the German Federal Armed Forces buys another 48 heavy-duty HX81 semi-trailer tractors with an unprotected driver's cab, which can be replaced with a protective one if necessary.

Rheinmetall Aviation Systems is entrusted with the care, maintenance and servicing of the Swiss Air Force's Sikorsky CH-53G heavy-lift cargo helicopter.

17 December: The foundation stone for a new plant is laid in Zalaegerszeg, western Hunga-ry, where Rheinmetall will produce the Lynx infantry fighting vehicle together with the Hungarian state from 2023 in a joint venture agreed with the Czechoslovak Group a.s in early December.

Other events:
Rheinmetall develops a 130-mm weapon system consisting of the main components weapon, ammunition and auto-loader in an international joint project within the group.

Rheinmetall delivers the first enhanced combat Puma infantry fighting vehicle, which forms part of the Federal Armed Forces’ NATO spearhead capacity.

Electronic Solutions Division is developing a demonstrator for an AI-based autonomous plat-form based on the Lassy - Last Mile Autonomous Soldier Supply mobile robot.

In the field of air defence, an unmanned aerial vehicle platform is introduced as a technology carrier to develop AI-based functions that will further enhance performance in air defence systems in the future.

In the civilian sector, an automated drone-defence system is presented at Munich airport which is able to detect mini drones in airspace and distinguish them from birds with the help of AI. The Skymaster guidance system merges active and passive sensor information and compares data with the air position information from cooperative drones.

Rheinmetall Air Defence introduces the Skyranger mobile air defence system, which com-bines active and passive sensors and various actuators in a single tower that can be integrated into different vehicle platforms.

In laser weapon technology, Rheinmetall makes significant progress in developing spectral coupling of high-performance fibre lasers.
 

Rheinmetall Automotive

April: KS Motorservice expands the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Sales Business Unit to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

July: an assembly line for coolant switching valves (CSV), designed and built at Pierburg System S.A. in Boroa, is installed in the Niederrhein plant and commissioned for series production in December.

July: the South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai contracts Pierburg to supply blow-off valves that will be used on turbochargers in vehicles with internal combustion engines or hybrid drives. The order is worth 30 million euros. Hyundai's entire global engine range will be equipped with this valve from 2021.

July: Shanghai-based Pierburg Huayu Pump Technology begins production and supply of electric circulating water pumps for electric vehicles produced by an automotive manufacturer operating worldwide, destined for the Chinese and Asian market.

October: with orders worth over €350 million from three international vehicle manufacturers in North America, Japan, South Korea and China, the gas pump developed in 2018 is the most successful product in Pierburg’s company history with a total order volume of over €1 billion.

As part of a funded project aimed at developing a highly integrated high-power fuel cell drive, Pierburg is developing a new hydrogen recirculation blower, which will be delivered to BMW in October.

November: KPSNC receives a major order from China to supply enclosures for electric motors.

Other events:
Pierburg is developing a new product generation of fuel cells to meet quality, safety and service life requirements in future fuel cell systems for commercial vehicles.

The Mechatronics Division is consolidating its cooperative partnership with the Vehicle Systems Division (Defence) in the field of electric and hybrid drives, starting with the development of its own drive system, including power electronics.

The Hard Parts Division is cooperating closely with renowned OEMs and new market participants to develop new products in energy and heat management for industrial application electrification to increase efficiency and effectiveness in battery-electric drives for first prototypes.

The Mechatronics Division invests in plants in India to meet the stricter Bharat stage VI emission standard, which applies nationwide from 2020.

The new CrownteKS and WeldteKS piston generations for heavy-duty engines and LiteKS-D technology for medium-duty engines are being further developed to help meet the stricter regulatory requirements in China and India.

A complete production line in St. Leon-Rot is being converted to produce the precision bushings required to manufacture intensive care equipment.

BMW awards KS HUAYU AluTech GmbH an order to manufacture 73,000 cylinder heads, which will be manufactured at the Langenhagen site until 2022.